Zola Dam is a dam in

Le Tholonet Le Tholonet (; ''Lou Toulounet'' and ''Lo Tolonet'' in Provençal) is a commune in the Bouches-du-Rhône department in southern France. Its inhabitants are called ''Tholonétiens''. Geography The commune is near Aix-en-Provence, and at the fo ...

near

Aix-en-Provence Aix-en-Provence (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Ais de Provença in classical norm, or in Mistralian norm, ; la, Aquae Sextiae), or simply Aix ( medieval Occitan: ''Aics''), is a city and commune in southern France, about north of Marseille ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

History

The dam was designed by Italian-born engineer

François Zola François Zola (born Francesco Antonio Giuseppe Maria Zolla; 7 August 1796 – 27 March 1847) was an Italian-born French engineer. He built the Zola Dam, creating Lac Zola near Le Tholonet in Aix-en-Provence Aix-en-Provence (, , ; oc, l ...

, the father of novelist

Émile Zola Émile Édouard Charles Antoine Zola (, also , ; 2 April 184029 September 1902) was a French novelist, journalist, playwright, the best-known practitioner of the literary school of naturalism, and an important contributor to the development of ...

. Its construction was initially rejected by Gaston Alexandre Auguste, Marquis de Galliffet, the landowner, in 1838. Zola founded the Société du Canal Zola in 1846 and began construction. He died, however, in 1847, and the company was acquired by author and politician Jules Migeon in 1853. Construction of the dam was completed on September 10, 1854, and it was dedicated on December 16, 1854. The dam was painted by

Paul Cézanne Paul Cézanne ( , , ; ; 19 January 1839 – 22 October 1906) was a French artist and Post-Impressionist painter whose work laid the foundations of the transition from the 19th-century conception of artistic endeavour to a new and radically d ...

in the 1880s. The painting belonged to

Paul Gauguin Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (, ; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French Post-Impressionist artist. Unappreciated until after his death, Gauguin is now recognized for his experimental use of colour and Synthetist style that were distinct fr ...

in 1885. It was purchased by

Gwendoline Davies Gwendoline Elizabeth Davies, CH (11 February 1882 – 3 July 1951), was a Welsh philanthropist and patron of the arts who, together with her sister Margaret, is recognised as the most influential collector of Impressionist and 20th-century art ...

in 1918, who donated it to the

National Museum Wales National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

in 1952.

References

Buildings and structures in Bouches-du-Rhône Dams in France Dams completed in 1854 1854 establishments in France Gravity dams {{Europe-dam-stub